French film personality Sophie Marceau and South Korean actor and singer Lee Min-ho have been invited as guests to the most-viewed Spring Festival television gala on Lunar New Year's Eve, sparking a public controversy.

There is nothing wrong in inviting foreign stars as guests on China Central Television's Spring Festival gala, especially because a huge number of Chinese have fallen to the charms of foreign celebrities, and foreign fashion and music since China introduced reform and opening-up more than three decades ago.

But the invitations extended to foreign stars have more to do with business than the evolution of culture in China. And it is precisely business that the CCTV gala's producers do not seem to understand, for they may not succeed in attracting a foreign audience by inviting foreign stars to their show.